Sir George William Tapps-Gervis, 2nd Baronet (24 May 1795 – 26 August 1842) was a British politician and land developer. He was the only son of Sir George Tapps, 1st Baronet, of

Hinton Admiral Hinton Admiral is the estate and ancestral home of the Tapps-Gervis-Meyrick family and located in the settlement of Hinton, near Bransgore in Hampshire, England. It is a Grade I Listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structur ...

. After inheriting his father's estate in 1835, Tapps-Gervis commissioned Christchurch architect

Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey List of Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (1 April 1810 – 22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic revival architecture, Gothic Re ...

to plan and design the development of the seaside village of

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

into a resort similar to those that had already grown up along the south coast such as Weymouth and

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. The Westover Villas were the first development on the Gervis Estate between 1837 and 1840. They were built for families to hire during the summer and fronted on to the newly laid out Westover Gardens. The first two hotels opened in 1838. One was the Bath Hotel, which went on to become the Royal Bath, although the original building was much smaller and less grand than the current facility. The other was the Belle Vue Boarding House, which stood where the Pavilion is now and later became the Belle Vue and Pier Hotel. Tapps-Gervis also sat as Member of Parliament for

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, w ...

between 1826 and 1830 and for

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

between 1832 and 1837. He died of apoplexy, and his death was registered 18 months later on 14 February 1844.GRO Indices:- Death: 1844, Mar Qtr, Sir George William Tapps Gervis, in Christchurch, vol 8, page 147

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* Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies 2 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 1795 births 1842 deaths {{England-UK-MP-stub